The Lotus Blooms Twice
by teamgai
Summary: In which Tenten is terrible at baking, but Neji is great at it. Centered around Tenten's feelings about her teammates. Please review!


Rock Lee loved sweets, but he did not indulge in them very often because even though they were (as far as food goes) "the ultimate treat of youth", he knew he needed to keep his body in the best condition. Sweets were saved for only the rarest of occasions, that's why when Tenten heard that Lee's surgery had been a success her she first thought of the lotus shaped pastries the Yamanakas had been selling in their flower shop a few weeks ago.

"So once the dough is solid enough to be shaped with my hands I just lay out a base and then add in some petals?" she asked Ino, who was writing the recipe on a notepad for her friend.

"Yea!" Ino smiled. "And I wrote everything down for you here in case you forget. It should be really easy for you to make."

"Thanks again, Lee's going to love these."

Ino's smile faltered "So he's really going to be ok? We were all sure that was the end for him… Not just as a shinobi, for his life."

Tenten shook her head slightly. "Lee would never give up so easily. He's far too strong to let anything get in the way of his dream. He worries me

half to death" she said her goodbyes and went to pick up the ingredients from the market.

Gai sensei was on a mission when Lee had gone into surgery, and he still hadn't arrived and been told that Lee had survived, but she assumed he knew his pupil would be just fine. She and Neji had gone with Lee to the hospital to see him off. Neither of them had any words of encouragement for their teammate as they knew he didn't need them. Tenten only had one thing to say to Lady Tsunade "He will not die."

As worried as Lee was, Tenten was at least 100 times more so. Without Lee, their team would be a disaster. Gai sensei would probably go into a state of depression for the rest of his life, or worse yet, end his life all together. Tenten and Neji could probably function as well as most four man squads on their own, but without Lee they would be weaker. He had pushed both of them to become stronger, though Neji would never admit it audibly. He didn't need to.

No matter how much he annoyed her, Tenten couldn't imagine missions without Lee, training without Lee, living without Lee.

Lee was the more social and comforting one of her two best friends. Neji was there for her silently, knowing she needed her space and that she was strong enough to handle just about any issue in her life on her own. Lee was just the opposite. He wouldn't give up until her troubles were gone, no matter how many kunai or "go away"s she threw at him. He pushed her back up again when she was down.

Neji had stayed at the hospital for about ten minutes after they had been confined to the waiting room. They had been ten minutes of awkward silence and Tenten was slightly relieved when he said he was heading out to train. She stayed only a little while longer before she couldn't stand waiting any longer.

Tenten found herself wandering the village aimlessly until she decided to just return home.

It was around 7pm when she heard a light tap on her window. Neji rarely showed up at either of his teammates homes unless it was an emergency, so his face led her to think the worst had come to Lee. When she saw his mouth form a small smile of relief she calmed down and couldn't help to run into him and hug him out of happiness, much to his discomfort. She pulled away quickly realizing she had overstepped his boundaries by about a mile. "It's ok" he said before she could even apologize, and together they ran all the way to the hospital to greet their friend.

It was in the hospital that Tenten had decided they would both be coming over for tea to celebrate the next day. Lee was nothing but ecstatic at the thought of spending time with his two favorite teammates. So Tenten set out on her newest mission to bake what she was sure to overload him with happiness, lotus pastries.

"WHAT IS THIS?" she screamed out in frustration over her less than lotus shaped pastries. All morning she had been mixing the dough, which was shapable by her hands if she put in all of her strength. She had even somehow formed the lumps of clay into spikey lumps of clay. Tenten was not accustomed to baked goods before the time when she bought them and ate them, so she still had hope that the tough, floury chunks would bloom into beautiful Lotus flowers. She spread a liberal amount of red colored sugar on each petal's tip. The result was a pan full of blackened dough with crumbley edges and no real shape to them. "Ino said this would be easy" she muttered, dumping the failures into the garbage and plopping down on the couch. As soon as she hit the comforting surface, a knock came from the front door.

"JUST COME IN" she yelled. "You came early," Tenten turned around to face Neji who had let himself in.

"I thought you might need some help"

"And WHAT made you think that?" she asked defensively.

Neji walked into her kitchen to find it a mess, cluttered with ingredients and dirty dishes , with not a thing to show for it. "The smoke coming from your window"

Tenten walked to the kitchen, inspecting what he was doing. Neji was halfway through cleaning the kitchen when he found the recipe Ino had written for Tenten to follow.

"He would enjoy these." Neji grabbed the bowl Tenten had used for her first batch, cleaned it and began mixing ingredients. Tenten was awestruck with how fast he was in the kitchen. If she hadn't known better she would have assumed he was a master chef and that this was his kitchen, with how easily he found everything he needed without ever having to ask her.

"Y-you don't have to do that Neji!" she said as he was washing a spoon. She grabbed it from him, allowing him to get back to where she really needed him, baking. Once she was done with the dishes she returned to spectating. Neji was forming the base of his last lotus flower on the pan. The dough was perfect; it looked good enough to eat as is, but Tenten couldn't think about eating as she stared from behind Neji. She didn't take her eyes off his hands once as he formed petals even more beautiful than the actual lotus flowers.

He didn't need Byakugan to feel her eyes boring into him. "Tea?"

"Oh! I almost forgot.." She climbed up onto the counter next to him to reach the teapot. As she made the tea, she watched Neji put colored sugar delicately on each of the petals. He looked so concerned it was like he was defusing a bomb.

A loud knock brought Tenten out of her mesmerized state. She walked quickly to let Lee in.

"OH TENTEN YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE THE NEWS! Lady Hokage has cleared me for training! I will not fall behind my peers after all!" He all but screamed, jumping on her in a hug. Normally she would have pulled away and scolded him, but she was almost as excited as he was.

"Lee, the last thing on your mind right now should be training. You need some time to rest." she said pulling him closer into her embrace.

Lee sat on the couch and looked down. "Tenten I had this surgery so I could continue to be a ninja. The village is in a state of disarray and I need to be back on my feet so I can help as soon as I can."

"Yes and that's exactly why you need to-"

She was cut off by Neji carrying in the tea on a tray.

"NEJI? I did not know you had already arrived" Lee jumped from the seat and would have knocked over the tea from hugging Neji if Neji had not foresaw this and sat it down at the table. "Did you hear the news? We can once again be rivals!"

"When am I ever late?" A timer went off in the kitchen and Neji and Tenten both went to check on the pastries. Neji removed them from the pan and placed them on a platter. They were so beautiful Tenten could have cried, if only Lee hadn't beat her to it.

"OH TENTEN THESE ARE SUCH DELIGHTFUL LOTUS PASTRIES PREPARED BY YOU, MY BEAUTIFUL TEAMMATE. I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE EATING THEM IT WOULD SOIL THEIR MEANING OF YOUTH" Tears and snot were streaming down his face and he had begun hugging Tenten again. This time she did pull away.

"Actually Lee-" Tenten began.

"IF ONLY GAI SENSEI WERE HERE TO RELISH IN THEIR BEAUTY WITH US. OH NEJI ARE THEY NOT THE MOST AMAZING THING WE WILL EVER EAT? TENTEN IS TRULY A GENIUS!"

"We haven't even tasted them yet" Neji reminded him.

"THEN WE MUST!"

They ate and drank and talked about the training Lee had missed out on and what they thought Gai sensei's mission was for.

"He is probably on a mission to prevent a horrible disaster from coming to fruitition in our village!" Lee suggested giddily.

"Maybe" Neji added, bringing his tea cup away from his lips. "Or maybe he's on an escort mission, protecting some forgetable diplomat."

Tenten laughed at the face Lee was making at Neji which was somewhere between a frown and disgust. Before he had time to come up with an outrageous response, Tenten grabbed each of her companions by the hand and smiled. "I'm so glad we were grouped together."

Her eyes were closed, but they both could tell there were tears behind her eyelids, waiting for her to open them so they could fall.

"I am also glad. I have been most lucky to grow alongside such an admirable shinobi as Neji and such a talented kunoichi as yourself, Tenten." Lee had forgoten all together the insult Neji had just bestowed upon their sensei, and was instead completely focused on her smile.

"As am I." Neji agreed.

Lee pulled them both into a hug and began to yell about the days of their youth and how happy he was that he would be training with them again. Tenten giggled under her breath as Neji silently tried to pull away.

She was glad she was no longer trying to follow in the path of Lady Tsunade. Not because she wasn't particularly skilled in medical ninjutsu, or because of Tsunade's drinking habits, or even her gambling problem. Tenten was glad because she wouldn't trade them for anything. Orochimaru, one of the legendary sanin, was an enemy of the leaf, and therefore Tsunade had to destroy him if need be, and Jiraya wandered all over, never remaining in the leaf for long. Lady Tsunade was all alone. Tenten would not let that happen to her team. Her goal, second to becoming a legendary kunoichi in her own right, was to protect her friends.

All the tears that had accumulated under her eyes were replaced with a new found determination. Tenten looked upon the boys in her living room. She had seen both of them overcome barriers she knew should have been impossible. When she thought about it too hard it upset her greatly because she felt as though she had grown the least. Neji and Lee and Gai were always the ones to go head to head with their enemies. Most of the time, all she could do was silently support them from afar. Wherever they were lacking she made up for it, but just once, she wanted to be the one who was lacking. She wanted them to support her from afar while she went head to head with their enemies, while she was the one risking _her_ life.

 _Not now_ , she thought, _Not when were having such a good time._ She pushed the thoughts of self loathing from her mind and resumed her chat with her friends.

When they had both gone, Tenten went to clean the kitchen, only to find it was already clean. The only thing on the counter was the paper where the recipe was written. It was flipped to the back side, and on it was a simple note:

 _I enjoyed them as well._

 _-Neji_

If Neji liked them it means they must have been great. Her idea had pleased both of her teammates, and she was proud even if she hadn't been the one to bake the pastries.

Baking just wasn't one of her talents, but that was ok because it was one of his.


End file.
